Loose-leaf binder



July 2l, 1959 E. C RAN KIN v LoosE-LEAi= BINDER 3 Sheets-Sheet l1 l V 21x 21 28%@ n A3 JQ 2976 :16A u July 2l, 1959 E.' c. RANKIN LoosELEAF BINDER Filed April 12, 1956 :s sheets-sheet 2 United States Patent LOOSE-LEAF BINDER Edward C. Rankin, Oak Park, Ill., assignor to Brock &

Rankin, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application April A12, 1956, serial No. 517,853 Y s claims. (ci. 129-s) rThe' present disclosures' relate to improvements in posttyp'e, loose-leaf binders, and provide a device of this class characterized by a simplified, economical, and easily-oper'ated binding mechanism'of great compactness but high capacity.

More particular objects and features relate to the provision of a binder having a simplilied, sliding, and rockable'liinge mechanism affording multi-position opening movements for reading, copying, and loading purposes, andE having an automatic latch means operable vto latch theilinge means'whenthe'binder stands upright, together witlicertain self-opening features and other utilitarian andstructural advantages which will'be'more particularly described asthe following specification proceeds in View of'theannexed drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a loaded binder;

l Fig.- 2- is anenlarige'd elevational'view, looking into the binder standing in'- upright and unloaded condition, as in tli general direction of linesv 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig.l 3 is a planview looking in a direction similar to tlitof Fig: 2 but with the covers lbroken away and opened atiasl oii ata'ble, and the post' carriers partly extended to rst or ordinary -reading position;

Fi'gl 4' is aview similar to that' of Fig. 3 but with the post carriers moved'out to the second or Extended readitigpos'ition'; v

Fig. 5 is a view"s"i'rriilaiJ tojthat of' Figs'. 3 and 4 but with thepo'st carriers' in the third'or fully Open loadlig p'S''On;

Fig.` 6 is a transverse sectionl taken' along lines 6 6 of Fig. 3 with the covers opened flat, andthe loading positofofoiicarrier indicated in'dott'ed lines;

Figi 7 is 4arr exploded perspective of the components of the binding mechanism les's the right-hand post carrier;

Fig; 7A i's a' fragmentary perspective detail of the righthandl caiei illustrating the hinge action of the carriers generally;

Figi' 8 is* a'- riaigniiiedi sectional fragment taken along lines 8-8 of Fig. 5 showing part of' the mounting for the latch plate and the detent means therefor.

The novel binder is depicted in loaded, closed conditioiirlFi'g. l, aiid'incl'tldes ap'air of hard covers 10joined as at 11 by' the usual cloth hinge means to a hard tarboardg backbone 12, otito the inside face of which is riveted a basel plate 14cm-tying tli'e entire binding mechanis'm, which iiiblude's a latch-lever 15 andcertain postb'ndi'ng nte'clin'siiisIhei-'eiiiafter detailed.

I'n Fig. Ztlie binder i'sfshowii to larger scale in upright psitii with the' loseLleaf contents removed to expose tli' binding` and more particularly the latch plate; 16 thereof,` ard the rigltand leftv-band sets of bindeipo'stsi) andlf upon which the book leaves are strung.

AWhile the binding mechanism is relatively simple, some of the shapes comprising' the same are of .peci'xli'r" configuration, and't tlie general construction and asseibly i's' therefore rn'os'teasily understood by reference to' the explodednsse'fr'ibly vie'vt of Fig; 7, whereinl the metal base plate 14 is shown detached from the backbone of the binder.

The base plate is provided with opposite upset ends 14Av which close off the head and foot portions of the binder as'- sembly, there being mounted upon said base plate a hinge" plate 17 having a pair of pendant hinge lugs 17A, 17B struck down from its opposite longitudinal margins af positions to seat, respectively, upon the upper surface of the base plate in a registered condition close to, but not beyond, the longitudinal edges of the latter, whereby to form closed hinge pintles, as will more fully appear.

The hinge plate is perforated'to scat accurately in 'dief aforesaid condition of register upon collars 14B riveted onto the base plate by the same rivets 22 (Fig. 8) eiployed to attach the binding mechanism to the backbone, and which penetrate said collars and elongated side slots" 16A disposed in the latch plate to register therewith, said rivets ultimately being supplied with friction washers 23 and headed over as at 24 to secure the mechanism in assembledcondition.

Prior to the riveting operation aforesaid, the post-carrying wings 18 and 19 are disposed beneath the hinge plate 17 (only the wing 18 appearing in Fig. 7) so that the corresponding pairsof hinge lugs 17A, 17B are tted into the appertaining `slots or channels 18D or 19D (see Fig; 7A, also), the post wings being of identical construction in these respects apart from their rightandleft-handedorientation. i

As seen in Fig. 7, the post-carrying slide or Wing-.18 there shown consists of a main post-carrying ange ISA into which the posts 21' are staked, and-alongthe bottoml edge of which is an angular offset 18B extending at about 45 for coaction with the book of leaves and certain rocker constructions to force the post wingsoutwardly into the primary reading position when the binder is laid-tial: and opened, as will be more fully explained hereinafter.l

Extending from the said offset wing are a short-stabilizing finger ISF and two long hinge rocker fingers 18C in which are cut elongated slots 18D, the outermost extremities 18E of which are closed andangled downwardly for reasons to appear.

As previously pointed out, there are two of the aforesaid post-carrying slides or wings 18, 19, one rightlhanded, one left-handed, and these are disposed beneath the hinge plate 17, prior to riveting the latter in position, and in such a position that the hinge lugs 17B,- for example, tit into the elongated cut-outs or slots 18D on the appertaining left-handed post wing, and the hinge lugs 17A along the opposite edge of the hinge plate fit into the slots 19D in the right-handed wing 19, inthe manner depicted in Fig. 7A as to the wing 18, Wheref upon the slidable latch plate 16 is positioned on the backbone plate and post rivets 22 as previously mentioned', and these rivets are then headed over, thus completing the binder.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 5 and 8, the latch plate 16 is provided with a detent dimple 25 which engages the headed portion of a detent rivet 26 on the hinge plate, these detent members being located for engagement in the intermediate or Extended Reading position of the latch plate which is depicted in Fig. 4, there being a total of three positions for the latch means,l namely: fully Closed; Extended-Readin and Copen' The aforesaid three positions of the latch means determine the extent to which the slidable post wings 18 and 19 shall be free to move, that is to say, whether to the primary reading position with both wings moved a short distance outwardly; or whether to the Extended Reading position with the left-hand wing 18 -free to slide an additional amount to the Extended Reading position shown in Fig. 4; or whether both wings shall be wholly freed to slide fully outward to their respective limits in the Open or loading condition depicted in Fig. 5.

Such positioning of the wings or slidable post carriers 18 and 19 is determined by stop lugs 28 and 29 (Fig. 5), the lug 28 being fixed at the top of the lefthand wing and lug 29 being fixed at the bottom of the right-hand wing, the same respectively coacting with stepped stop formations 28A, 28B along the top edge of the latch plate 16, and 29A, 29B formed in an irregular cut-out near the bottom of said latch plate.

vWhen the latch lever 15 is pushed fully upwardly to Close position, as in Fig. 3, the notched stop or latch formations 28A, 29A are so positioned relative to the' stop lugs 28 and 29 that the latter will abut therewith upon opening of the covers 10, the book being preferably laid at on va reading surface, as in Fig. 6, and the leaves L- being parted at a desired place for reading purposes.

One of the important features and advantages of the new binder mechanism is the self-opening action imparted to the sheet or post carriers 18 and 19 as a result of the weight of the leaves on the posts 21, 22 thereof bearing outwardly and downwardly upon the wing anges 18A or 19A (Fig. 6), by reason of which 'the entire wing or slide 18 is caused to slide outwardly to the limit imposed by the stop notches 28A, 29A with the latch lever in the upper or close condition. In this primary reading condition shown in Figs. 3 and 6, the gutter G- between the parted leaves is widened usefully for easier reading down toward the binding margins of the pages.

" The aforesaid automatic opening action results from the angled offsetting of the wing flanges 18 as by the angled offsets 18B thereof, together with hte tilting of the wings caused by olsetting of the outermost rocker ends 18E of the fingers 18C or 19C, which rocks the respective linger portions 18C into the pitched attitude shown in Fig. 6, with the result that the weight of the parted leaves acting on the appertaining wings produces a resultaut force sufficient to slide the wings divergently or outwardly to the reading positions shown in Figs. 3 and 6.

When a still wider reading or copying gutter is required, the left-hand wing 18 will be freed for still further outward sliding movement upon an urging of the latch lever 15 to the Extended Reading position EXT. illustrated in Fig, 4, and then pushing the left-hand set of leaves to the left until the condition of Fig. 4 is reached, wherein the stop formation 28B is engaged by the wing stop lug 28 to limit the movement of said lefthand wing 18 to the position shown in Fig. 4, while lug 29 on the other wing is oppositely blocked by the stop formation 29A.

When it is desired to add, transfer, or remove pages,- singly or in blocks, the lever 15 is pulled to Open position and the latching formations 28A, 28B, 29A, 29B on the latch plate move into a non-obstructing position relative to the stop lugs 28, 29, so that both post carriers or wings 18, 19 are free to slide outwardly to the limit shown in Fig. 5, which is determined by the closed end portions 18E, 19E, abutting the hinge lugs 17A, 17B.

The manner in which loading and unloading is effected is illustrated in Fig. 6, wherein it will be assumed that itis required to add to, or remove, leaves from the righthand group L1- In this event the cover 10 on the right is caused to drop below the level of the backbone to the dotted-line position, whereupon the fully-extended wing 19 likewise moves downwardly because its closed finger ends 19E pivot on the hinge lugs 17B so that the appertaining stack of leaves is now turned into the position indicated at -L2-, and it becomes apparent that one or more leaves may then be easily removed or added without disturbing the remainder on either set of binder posts 21 or Z2, it being merely neces- 4 sary to divide the two groups L -Llinitially at the proper page to make any insertions, removals, or redistributions required.

Whenever the binder has been opened to a position requiring partial or full withdrawal of the latch lever 15, the latter will automatically be moved to closed position by the weight of the loaded binder as a result of standing the latter in an upright position (e.g. the position of Fig. 2)

It should also be observed (as in Figs. 2 and 7) that in the fully closed and converged condition of the post wings or carriers 18 and 19 the bullet-nosed free ends 21X, 22X of the posts respectively enter holes or sockets 18X or 19X formed in the anges 18A and 19A, by reason of which the posts are additionally supported and stabilized. This is important in heavily-loaded binders, particularly when they are to be shipped in loaded condition, as the weight of the leaves is considerable and dropping and like abuses can damage most ordinary binders of the post type.

The present disclosures afford a simple, light-weight and economically manufactured binder which is free of gears, leverages, pivots, tracks, pintle hinges, and like complications which have characterized prior binders of this type, the new binder being easily manipulated for reading, copying, transfer, loading, and like purposes; and while many post-'binder constructions have been proposed heretofore in forms operating to open by dividing or diverging from the middle and to permit some form of pivotal swinging of the posts upwardly from their plane normally parallel to the backbone, the present disclosures provide a number of novel structural and functional features which are highly desirable from the standpoint of both utility and manufacture, including particularly such features as the elongated, pitched hinge fingers 18C, 19C, slidable within a metal housing or encasement consisting of the base plate 14, and at least the hinge plate 17, with or without the latch plate 16; together with the capability of said ngers to rock and to move freely, and even loosely, within and substantially wholly outwardly of said housing with acquired pivotal freedom in the latter position to drop the carriers and their burdened posts into a substantially upright position for convenient and safe loading or changing of sheets or leaves.

Additional features of novelty and utility reside in the self-opemng structure and operation arising from the angled disposition of the long hinge ngers within the metal encasement aforesaid whereby a resultant self-openlng force is produced by action of the weight of the bound material which is suticient upon opening and dividing of the leaves into substantial blocks of leaves to cause the .post carriers or wings to shift to the primary open reading position; together with the additional latchlng means and operations for an extended intermediate reading position, and the full open, freely hinged, and dropped loading positions.

I claim:

l. In a post binder having laterally dividing post carrying means, improvementscomprising, namely: a housing having open side portions and attached to the backbone portion of a binder having a set of covers joined to a backbone; a post-carrying wing structure at each of said sides of the housing respectively adjoining one of said covers; and each having elongated linger means respectively slidably projecting into one of said open side portions for approximately linear movement substantially wholly into and out of said housing to diverge and converge said wing structures and the post means carried thereby in opening and closing operations; said nger means and housing including cooperative hinge and lug means acting to limit the divergent movement of the wings to a predetermined open position wherein the ngers are substantially withdrawn from the housing and hingedly pivotablc to dispose the appertaining binder posts at a substantial angle to the line of sliding movement of said lingers in said housing.

2. A retractable-post type binder comprising a set of covers joined to a backbone; a shallow metal case attached to the inside of said backbone and extending substantially the length and width of the latter and having open portions along its opposite longitudinal sides adjacent the juncture of the covers with the backbone; a post carrier along each of said sides and each having binder posts projecting toward the posts of the other in a normal plane approximately parallel to the plane of said case and said backbone; each carrier having lingers substantially the length of said case width so as to fit freely inside the case and substantially across the width thereof when the carriers are moved inwardly toward each other to dispose said fingers within the case, said lingers being provided with cut-away hinge portions cooperable with lug means on the case near said longitudinal sides thereof to limit the outward or divergent movement of the carriers and to aord a hinge pivot for the latter in the outward limited position thereof and to permit swinging movement of the carriers to dispose the posts thereof in a loading position at a substantial angle to the planes aforesaid.

3. A construction according to claim 2 in which there is provided a longitudinally shiftable latch member as part of said case, and having a plurality of stop formations cooperable with stop means on the carriers in various selected positions of the shiftable member to limit said outward or divergent movement of the carriers to a plurality of extended positions each corresponding to one of said selected positions.

4. The construction of claim 3 further characterized in that said case has a predetermined shallow depth and said fingers have angularly offset portions near the free ends thereof causing the same to occupy a pitched gliding condition within the case relative to the inner surfaces thereof, said posts being attached to the carriers at an elevation above said fingers whereby the carriers when loaded with a predetermined minimum weight of leaves, will tend to diverge automatically upon laying said covers and backbone flat on an approximately horizontal plane.

S. A binder construction according to claim 4 further characterized in that one of said selected positions of the shiftable latch member is located to stop the aforesaid automatic outward extension of the carriers a short distance from the hinging position in the case suicient to widen the reading gutter down in between the parted pages while preventing hinge movement thereof.

6. In a loose-leaf binder of the opposed post type including a back member, oppositely-facing post carriers having at least two elongated hinge fingers normally extending toward each other in a plane largely parallel to the plane including said back member of the binder, a shallow housing attached to said binder back member into and substantially out of which said fiingers move slidably from a closed normal condition substantially within said housing to a fully open position nearly withdrawn therefrom; said ngers each having an elongated slot formation extending nearly the length thereof but closed at their outermost extremities; and hinge lugs positioned in pairs on opposite sides of said housing with the lugs of each projecting respectively into a slot in one of the lingers of the appertaining carrier to the guide the in and out sliding movements of the carrier and to coact with the closed ends of the corresponding fingers in the fully withdrawn position thereof whereby the appertaining carrier in said latter position may rock substantially to disp'ose the posts thereof at a substantial angle to said normal position for application and removal of pages.

7. A loose-leaf binding mechanism comprising: an elongated housing defined by two planar members secured in closely spaced relation and adapted for mounting in a cover structure, said members having open portions along opposite longitudinal sides thereof; a wing structure, with binding-post means thereon, carried at each of said opposite sides, each said structure having integral finger means projecting slidably between said planar members to supportably guide the appertaining wing structure from a normal inward position close to the corresponding side, to an outwardly open position away from such side; coacting means on said fingers and on at least one of said planar members limiting the outward movement thereof and respectively constituting a hinge fulcrum for the corresponding finger when the latter is moved to the outward limit aforesaid, whereby the appertaining wing structure may rock substantially below the plane of either said planar member tto dispose the post means thereon in a loading position; said linger means being entirely concealed between said planar members when the wing structures are disposed in the normal inward position aforesaid.

8. A loose-leaf binding mechanism of the separablepost ttype comprising a substantially flat support means adapted for attachment to the at backbone of a set of binder covers, and a pair of post carriers each including a wing having binding-post means attached thereto, and cut-away offset portions constituting a combination slide and hinge means extending integrally at an angle to the corresponding wing portion to substantially overlie and glide over a ilat surface portion of said support means, and each including a cut-away formation cooperable with lug means located at one of the two correspondingly opposite sides of said support means and serving as a combination stop and hinge fulcrum for the respectively appertaining post carrier, whereby each of the latter may be slid inwardly and outwardly crosswise of the backbone relative to `one of said opposite sides from an outward tilted loading position determined respectively by said lug means and at which either carrier may pivot freely relative to an axis along the corresponding opposite side of the support means, to a closed non-pivoting inner position crosswise `of the support means and away from the appertaining lug means and the pivot fulcrum afforded thereby.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,398,422 Dunning Nov. 29, 1921 2,017,218 Raynolds Oct. 15, 1935 2,134,122 Haskin Oct. 25, 1938 2,553,872 Schade May 22, 1951 2,716,409 Thesieres Aug. 30, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 631,999 Germany July 1, 1936 

